However, Heisler thinks Apple’s focusing solely on iOS with the iBM alliance makes perfect sense for a number of reasons thatI think are plausible. He argues that a mobile oriented strategy has much more of an upside than one focused on Macs, and enables Apple to instead of laying siege to a deeply entrenched sector of Microsoft turf, a mobile-only strategy allows Apple to shift the pointy-end of the battle to an area where they have the upper hand.

He notes that Apple CEO Tim Cook Tim Cook recently noted that “laptops still outnumber tablet computers three-to-one in business environments,” and while Apple could have tried to convert those laptop workstations to Mac hardware (a tough sell, given the innate conservatism and entrenched expertise interests in corporate IT), much better to direct energy to advocating conversion of those enterprise laptops into iPads where Apple has the advantage of campaigning from a position of strength.

And with PC growth plateaued or contracting as mobile devices continue to grow in popularity, expending resources trying to dislodge Microsoft from its loong-established hegemony is arguably a battle not worth fighting, and likely unwinnable for Apple anyway.